Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Great lessons for educators can be found in the most unlikely of places. One such example can be found on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, in a recurring segment called "The Word". In "The Word," host Stephen Colbert uses one word or phrase as a jumping off point for his unique editorial commentary.

Therein lies the example for teachers and students alike. Effective presentations are ones where the slides compliment what a presenter is saying, not overpower it or make it redundant. They are well-paced, quick-witted, and use various media to capture the hearts and minds of their audience. Text is large, easy to read and kept to a minimum. Most importantly, the entire time of the presentation is kept to just a few minutes. If you can't get your point across in that amount of time, perhaps you need to reexamine your central point!

I offer two examples of "The Word" that happen to relate to education. The first word is smarterer:

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About Me

I am a former teacher, writer and blogger living in the Rio Grande Valley. A proud Teach For America alumnus (RGV 03), I've taught math and social studies for years in a variety of school types and grade levels. I was born and raised in New Jersey.